


to see if reindeer really know how to fly

by peacefulboo



Series: FLY [3]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/M, Family Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:18:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21986599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peacefulboo/pseuds/peacefulboo
Summary: To Rudolph themed kitchen dance parties, important revelations, and figuring it all out.
Relationships: Scott Moir/Tessa Virtue
Series: FLY [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1455133
Comments: 75
Kudos: 120





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If you aren't all Christmas'd out (and I wouldn't blame you if you are) have some FLY-verse Christmas. I promise you some cute fun, and maybe a little steamy fun in the second chapter. 
> 
> I was worried that I was late with this since it's after December 25th all over the world, but then I remembered that the orthodox calendar starts the 12 days of Christmas on the 25th. So that's my excuse. We're just gonna go with it. 
> 
> Once again, I'm flyin' unbeta'd. Please let me know if there are any major errors, yeah?
> 
> This is for C who always keeps me honest. ;)

“Wait. So you’re bringing your girlfriend to the family Christmas already? You’ve been dating her for half a minute,” Danny says as all of the adults in the family hang out in the living room and the kids play outside a few days before Christmas. 

“We’ve known each other for almost seven months now,” Scott says, knowing it’s a ridiculously short amount of time but both he and Tessa have come to terms with how quickly they were both on board with making a real go of their relationship. “But, technically yes, we’ve only been dating since early October.”

Danny raises his eyebrows and shares a concerned look with his wife. It’s, surprisingly, Nicole that breaks in rather than Scott.

“Tess is great,” she says. “Very level headed and even keeled, great at her job, fantastic mom. And head-over-heels for this guy.”

Scott smiles at his sister-in-law and shrugs in response, “The feeling’s mutual. She’s amazing and fun and kind. And so freakin’ smart.”

“You met her already, Danny,” Charlie reminds him. He’s already done with this conversation. “And her kid.”

“Wait. Is she the one from the rink. With the super fast kid?” 

“Yes. With the fast kid,” Charlie adds. Danny had been impressed with how quick “JJ” had been and got a little obsessed with analyzing how she was moving trying to figure out where she was getting her power and speed from. 

“Oh yeah. She was great,” Danny’s wife chimes in. “I’m looking forward to being confused for the rest of my life about if someone is talking to me or to your wife,” she teases. 

“She’s hardly my wife,” he protests, but no one else in the room seems like they’d be too put out with him if he were to propose tomorrow. It’s like all of Danny and Tessa’s concerns have blown out the window once they remember meeting her. She’s that good at putting people at ease and making them feel comfortable. 

“I give you three more months. Tops,” Charlie says. There’s only a hint of teasing in his voice. 

“Three months?” Scott squeaks out. That’s a ridiculous timeline. “For a proposal?”

“For a permanent change of status of some sort,” Charlie clarifies. “Neither of you seem unsure of where you want this to go, you both are committed to working through issues as they come, you adore her kid and JJ loves you. She even told Skitch that she wouldn’t mind if you lived with them.”

“Well damn,” Scott replies a wee bit dazed. One: he can’t imagine how that would have come up in conversation between two seven-year-olds. Two: Charlie is serious. Scott takes a long pull off his beer as his mind goes blank. When he’s with Tessa, or Tessa and Jo, there is zero doubt in his mind that he wants to make it work forever, even if they’ve only technically been dating for two months. They’ve already had conversations about where they see the relationship heading and what they’re hoping for and they are headed solidly in the same direction. But to hear his brother so sure about their relationship, knowing that neither Charlie or Nicole seem to have any qualms about his relationship with Tess is nice confirmation, yet still a little hard to take. Talk about pressure.

“Don’t look so shocked,” Charlie says with an eye roll. “You know you’d move in tomorrow if she asked you. You’re so far gone.” 

“Don’t do that,” Danny says to Scott, eyes comically wide. “Don’t be that guy. I like her, but don’t do that.”

“I’m not going to move in with them tomorrow,” Scott assures him. “It’s nice to hear the seven-year-old in this situation thinks she’d be fine with me moving in, but the adults need to proceed with a little more caution.”

“But it’s not freaking you out? The idea of having an instant kid that already talks and has opinions?”

Scott laughs at Danny’s priorities but sobers up quickly when he really thinks about the question. “This particular kid? No. The responsibility will be a lot, but I wouldn’t say I’m freaking out.”

“Okay,” Danny replies. 

“Okay?”

“Yeah. You’re hardly a dumbass anymore. And you aren’t going to be reckless with a kid. Plus the look on your face when you talk about your Tessa tells me everything. She’s got you: hook, line and sinker.”

*

Scott can feel himself flagging as their game of Ticket to Ride is coming to an end. Jo is kicking both their asses and Scott’s going to go ahead and blame his exhaustion for his lack of skilll. Or the fact that her mother looks particularly ethereal in the low light cast by a combination of the twinkle lights strung around the room and fire that he laid earlier in the evening (and should probably build back up since Jo and Tessa are going to stay up to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol). Tessa’s cheeks are flushed from the wine, the warmth of the room, and from spending half the night laughing at her daughter’s trash talk and Scott’s attempts to trash talk back in a kid-friendly manner. It’s possible he’s been playing up the ridiculousness just to see her cheeks turn a deeper shade of pink as she throws her head back and cackles. 

Both he and Tessa have been in town all of November and December so far, and what started out as having one night a week with Tessa on the weekend and one dinner during the week with Tessa and Jo has quickly escalated to him spending his whole weekend with Tess in addition to a day or two with them when Jo is home. Those weeknights nights he doesn’t sleep over but last week Jo had rolled her eyes and told them that two of her friends have parents whose boyfriends sleep over, and obviously Marianne lives with her dad and they’re not married yet so she doesn’t understand why Scott doesn’t just stay and sleep here instead of driving back to his  
apartment. Both adults were a little stunned but decided that, though it’s fabulous that she doesn’t seem to have an issue with it, they’re gonna hold off on that for a little while longer. The idea that it may never be a thing that comes to pass isn’t even entertained. 

Scott is roused from his stupor by Tessa nudging his foot with hers and furrowing her brow at him in question. “You okay?” she mouths when he looks up at her. 

“Yeah,” he replies. “Just tired.” 

“You can head home if you want,” Tessa tells him as she runs her thumb over the top of his hand. “It’s not like you have a chance in this game.”

She’s teasing but she’s not wrong. 

“You’re leaving?” Jo asks as she looks up from the board. 

“Yeah, kiddo. I have to get up early to go on that hike with my brothers and today was long already. I should go home before I get too sleepy to drive.”

His apartment is less than ten minutes away but there’s no sense in pushing it. 

“But you’ll be back tomorrow night, right?” Jo asks, voice a little pitched with concern. 

“Uh...” Scott wasn’t planning on spending any of the next day with them since it is their traditional day to hang out just the two of them before Christmas became all about their extended families. This year it’s also going to be Tessa’s main celebration with Jo who will be with Greg and Marianne for Christmas Eve night through Boxing Day since they’re driving down to Rochester to spend Christmas with Greg’s grandmother whose health has been declining over the last few months; Scott hadn’t even considered intruding on Tessa and Jo’s Christmas celebration. 

“But I figured you could pick the cookies up from the baker since it’s so close to where you live and then you could open presents with us. The one I’m making for you isn’t ready yet!” The poor kid sounds a little panicked at that last point.

“Jo. Why did you think Scott was going to celebrate Christmas with us?” 

“You get your cookies from a baker?” Scott asks at the same time, knowing he’s fixating on the wrong part of the conversation but also incapable of weighing in on the more serious topic until Tess has. 

“Because you’re going over to his parents house tomorrow to celebrate Christmas, so that makes him important. Plus Marianne is there when I celebrate Christmas with dad...I thought it would be like that here, too.” Tessa is, indeed, planning on attending the Christmas Eve festivities at Scott’s parent’s house, and Scott will be spending at least some of his Christmas day with Tessa and her siblings at Kate’s house as well. 

“The bakery makes amazing gingerbread and sugar cookies, plus they give us the icing in packets so we can do half of them ourselves. It’s the best set up,” Tessa addresses Scott’s question with a tone so gracious and reasonable that he believes her completely. And then she looks at Jo and sighs. “I can see why this might be confusing for you. You know that it’s still pretty early in our relationship, right Bug? And because of that it might be too early for Scott to join for a day that’s so special for you and me.”

“But he makes you so happy,” Jo says, still audibly confused. “He makes you smile all the time! And not your picture smile, but your real smile that you get with me and when we’re at Nana’s with everybody.”

“That’s a very sweet thing for you to have noticed, Bug,” Tessa replies before looking up at Scott with a shrug. “Tell you what, how ‘bout you go up to your room for a few minutes, get changed into your pajamas while Scott and I talk about what we think is the best thing to do.”

Jo looks back and forth between the two of them and her face crumples just a little. “Did I mess up?”

“No, Bug. It’s a very sweet idea.”

“Not even a little bit, Kiddo.”

They answer at the same time and Scott clenches his jaw to keep from saying more. He needs to tread very lightly but he tries to keep his face and posture relaxed and sincere so Jo has no doubt that her assumptions, while not entirely accurate, were also not _bad_. 

“Okay,” Jo says, though she hardly looks convinced. “But you won’t leave before you say goodbye, right? In case I don’t get to see you tomorrow?”

“I won’t leave without saying goodbye,” Scott tells her. “I promise. This isn’t going to be a bad talk.”

Jo nods and then slowly turns to head up the stairs. 

Tessa exhales loudly through pursed lips and sinks down onto the couch. “Fuck.”

“Talk it out, Tess,” Scott suggests as he settles onto the couch next to her. “What is good, what’s bad, and what’s just confusing?”

Tessa sits up straighter at his methodical approach and takes his hand in hers. 

“Good? She likes you and is comfortable with you being my boyfriend. Not so good? She’s already equating our relationship to the kind of relationship that Greg and Marianne have and that’s skipping about five steps, when I only want to skip, like, two.” She jokes, giving his hand a squeeze and cocking her head in his direction. There’s a hint in her eyes that it’s not entirely a joke, which is good because he’s definitely wanting to skip some steps himself. “The confusing? I actually want to skip all five of those steps sometimes and we haven’t even told each other we love each other yet, so if I’m that confused? How must she feel?”

Scott looks back at her, intending to search her face for where she’s really at, but there’s no searching needed. Tessa’s expression is so baldly open, eyes bright and gentle, brimming with care and want and hope, so he presses a gentle kiss against her lips. “I do, you know,” he swallows and pulls back a few inches so he can make sure she’s looking at him when he says it out loud. “Love you. I do love you.” 

Tessa’s lips quirk up into the tiniest of smiles as she nods and says, “Yeah. Me too.”

“Yeah,” he agrees. This is not a revelation so much as a confirmation of what they’ve both felt for more than a few weeks now. It’s one more piece of their puzzle settling into place, helping to reveal what their relationships’s path forward might look like. 

But how they feel is only part of the equation. 

“What is good, what is bad, and what’s confusing?” Tessa asks, in order to bring them back to the conversation at hand. 

“The good is that I love you and you love me, which is more than good, really. It’s pretty fantastic.” He kisses her again, quick but firmer than before. “And I am extremely fond of Jo. I care about how she’s doing. All the time. I hope she’s having a good day at school, and that she’s not hurting or too tired after hockey. I care about if she has good friends other than Skitch and whether I’m allowed to care about any of that.” 

“If everything is working properly, we’re wired to care about the kids in our lives. She’s a kid in your life. Moreover, she’s a kid in your life that you will, hopefully, one day live with and have some responsibility for. It’s good that you care,” Tessa reassures him. 

“Okay, then how do we move forward at the pace that feels right for us, while also protecting her from potential fallout if we’re wrong?” 

Scott watches as Tessa sits back against the cushions of the couch. He can tell by the set of her jaw and the way her eyes move across the room that she’s considering, likely from her clinical experience, what the best way forward is for everyone. She only takes a few moments before she turns and grabs his hand. 

“I think the main thing we have to do is make sure she understands that my relationship with you and her relationship with you are separate things, even if they’re intertwined. We let her know that nothing she does will be responsible for the decisions we make about our relationship. And we remind her that sometimes relationships are only for a short time and sometimes they’re for a long time and that both options can be good if everyone respects each other.”

“Fucking A, Tess. I love your brain so much,” he tells her, awe lacing every syllable. And then he kisses her again because, damn, he loves kissing her. When they’ve indulged enough to feel like it was worth it but not long enough to get into territory they can’t come back from and shouldn’t be entering into in this moment, he asks. “Now what?”

“I’m trusting you, Scott Moir. I’m trusting that you will do your part to work through the hard stuff with me and with her. Tell me now if I should lower my expectations.”

Damn. He really does love her so much. “I plan to be worthy of your trust, Tessa. Cause I want it all with you. You know this already, but if you need me to remind you, just ask. And if you think I’m slipping or drifting from the path, for whatever reason, let me know. I don’t expect it to be easy all the time, but I do think you will always be worth it. Both of you.”

“Okay,” she says as she squeezes his hands in hers. “You really do make me happy, you know?”

“The happiness is mutual, love,” he says, trying out the endearment. Tessa’s smile softens and her eyes get shimmery so he thinks he’ll keep it. “So what do you want to do about tomorrow?”

“Are you even free tomorrow? You have family things, right?”

“I’m going on that hike with Danny and Charlie in,” he looks down at his watch and sucks in a breath through his teeth, “Eleven hours. But it’s not a particularly long hike and we should be back in town by noon.” 

“Do you want to spend some of your day with us?” There’s a tentative hope in the trill of her voice that makes him want to want whatever she wants. 

Truly, though? Spending any day with Tessa and Jo is a no brainer. “Yes. I would love that. What time would you like me to come over? And which bakery do I pick up these cookies from.”

A little later when he finally leaves them to their movie so he can get some sleep before the hike, Jo looks up at him and asks, “Can I hug you goodnight?”

Scott quickly checks in with Tess to make sure his answer is okay with her before nodding, “Of course, Kiddo. Of course.” She rushes over to where he’s sitting on the bench pulling on his boots and throws her arms around him. He hugs her to his side and drops a kiss onto the crown of her head and tells her, “Thank you for inviting me to your celebration tomorrow. I’m glad I get to spend the day with you and your mom.”

“Did she tell you the theme?” she asks as she quickly pulls back and grins at him. 

There’s a theme?

*

The theme, it turns out, is Rudolph. And these ladies go all out. 

When Jo answers the door, she is wearing a white sweater with Rudolph’s face, large and a little garish on the front, complete with bright red light-up nose. On her head she has a headband with antlers, but best of all, she’s also sporting a bright red ball on her nose. She’s so pleased with herself that he can’t help but smile wide enough to show all his teeth and give her the hardiest of high-fives in response. When Tessa joins them in the entryway moments later, as Scott is still shedding his jacket and shoes, he cackles when he sees that his girlfriend is wearing the same ensemble, including the antlers and nose. 

What’s better is that even in the face of his delighted laughter, she doesn’t look the slightest bit embarrassed, completely owning her ridiculous get up. It’s sick, but what should make her look completely ridiculous only endears her that much more to him. 

“I’m enjoying this theme already,” he tells them. “You both look fantastic.”

“Did you bring them?” Jo asks as she jumps up and down with anticipation. 

Scott holds out the box, “I believe I have your order of two dozen lumps of coal right here, Miss JoJo.”

Jo just rolls her eyes and exclaims, “They’re cookies, you doof,” with a deep, put upon sigh. It’d be obnoxious if her eyes weren’t sparkling with so much mirth. Instead she just looks even more adorable in her attempts to tease him back. 

“Oh yes. I misread the slip. This appears to contain one dozen uniced Rudolph sugar cookies, four bags of icing, including one bag of chocolate, and one dozen iced gingerbread reindeer,” he reads off the slip taped to the top of the bakery box in his hands. Before yesterday, he isn’t sure if he’d ever heard of anyone buying sugar cookies from a bakery that they plan to decorate themselves, but Tessa insists that outsourcing the actual baking of the cookies to her favorite bakery in town is the best decision she’s made when it comes to the holidays. 

Jo plucks the box out of his hands and announces, “I’ll take these to the kitchen so you two can be lovey dovey,” before crinkling her nose and waving her hands at them, before heading off toward the kitchen. 

“She’s in a sassy mood today,” Tessa says with a shrug. Scott knows she tries to let her daughter express herself in anyway she pleases as long as she’s not outright rude, and since it is obvious Jo is trying to do them a favor, neither of them are likely to quibble. 

“It’s Christmas and she’s excited,” he replies. “Also she’s seven and I have it on good authority that sassy is a given at that age. I was teasing her first, she just teased right back,” he adds, reassuring Tess that he’s not bothered. 

“All true things,” Tessa replies as she stands on her tiptoes to press a quick kiss against his mouth even as she wraps him in a tight hug. “You ready for a very Rudolph Christmas?”

“If it’s with you two? Absolutely.” Then it’s his turn to kiss her. She leans into him and he cradles her face in both hands. He attempts to deepen the kiss for moment but ends up pulling away with a chuckle when the prop nose rubs against his cheek. “Have I told you today how flippin’ adorable you are?”

“And here I was hoping you’d see this get up and think I was hotter than hell on a holiday.”

“Oh Virtch,” he murmurs. “The two are not mutually exclusive.”

Tessa plucks the red ball off the end of her nose and then kisses him again, with just the right amount of verve to make him groan but not enough to screw him over with her kid in the next room. She pulls away fairly quickly and they talk about his hike with his brothers as he shucks off his jacket and boots. Tessa starts to lead him into the kitchen when he’s done but he tugs on her hand and cocks his head at her. 

“Yeah?” she asks. 

“Just wanted to remind you that I love you, Virtch,” he tells her. “Since I get to say it now and haven’t said it today.”

The smile that lights up her face is worth the slight awkwardness of how he told her just now. 

“I love you, too, Moir.” She stretches up to kiss him again and then pulls back and pops the red bulb back on her nose. “We have some antlers for you, too.”

“What, no nose?”

Tessa just turns, looks at him so skeptically that he busts out laughing. “There is an extra one you could try.”

“Maybe later.” 

In addition to having the cookies, which do look and taste fantastic, they bake a loaf of pumpkin bread, which has Scott a little perplexed. Tessa insists that the quickbread can hardly be considered baking since her recipe is so easy, but they like to make it since the spicy sweet smell warms the house in a way a fire alone can’t accomplish. Dinner is homemade pizza with dough from a local pizza shop and the toppings forming yet another Rudolph face. These ladies do nothing by halves, Scott learns. The evening is full of happy laughter and cheerful music and he’s so glad that they asked him to come. He finds he doesn’t ever want to do Christmas without them, which is a bit of a terrifying thought. 

“You good?” Tessa asks him as he washes up the dishes after their meal. Jo got some sauce on her sweater so she’s run upstairs to switch into her Rudolph pjs instead. Because of course there are Rudolph pjs for tonight. 

He gives her a quick smile and nods and is rewarded with Tessa wrapping herself around him from behind, pressing her forehead against his back. He wipes his wet hands off with the dish towel so he can pull her hands up to his lips for a quick kiss, before returning his attention to the dishes. Tessa keeps herself pressed up against him and what should be cumbersome is comforting instead. 

The moment is broken when Jo comes clomping back down the stairs. She perches on a stool at the kitchen island and gasps when the song filtering through the speakers changes. Tessa has managed to make a Christmas playlist that is 95 percent about Rudolph or reindeer. It’s gotten a little repetitive but it delights Jo so much that neither adult has the heart to change it. At least there are hundreds of different versions of every Christmas song out there to give some semblance of variety. 

Tessa smiles at Jo’s gasp and nods her head when Jo gets up and turns up the music almost as loud as it can go. 

Scott isn’t sure what he’s done to deserve the chance to be here in this moment but as he watches Tessa and Jo boogie down to Chuck Berry’s “Run Run Rudolph”, but the combination of silliness and grace as they giggle their way through doing every dance move from the 50s and 60s is the best gift he’s likely to get this year. The moves are obviously choreographed and Scott laughs harder than he has in a long time when Tessa and Jo both play air guitar during one of the verses, only to pick up their candy cane Rudolph’s, complete with googly eyes, to use as mics as they sing along to the last chorus. 

When the playlists smoothly transitions to The Ronette’s version of “Sleigh Ride”, both Tessa and Jo keep dancing, though now their moves are less choreographed, with Jo wildly bouncing from foot to foot as she twirls in circles. He’s so distracted by Jo’s ability to make such a simple party dance look both aggressive and graceful that he almosts misses when Tessa stretches her hand out and beckons him onto their kitchen dance floor.

He takes her hand and twirls her around and around until she’s laughing so hard she can’t catch her breath and then he holds her close while he bobs his head in time to the music and Jo continues her Charlie Brown Christmas dancing. 

The three of them dance through the next few songs -- Scott even gets to Jo to dance with him a bit, showing her a basic foxtrot. They only stop when, while dancing to the most ridiculous ska version of Rudolph, Tessa’s socks slip on the tile one too many times while they attempt to quickstep around the small space and they end up in a heap on the floor laughing their asses off and deciding to call it good on the dancing shenanigans. Even Jo is winded at this point and willing to snuggle up to the old claymation Rudolph movie. 

Scott dozes off with his head in Tessa’s lap and wakes to Jo asking if they’re still doing presents tonight. Scott is hit with adrenalin as he opens his eyes and is very glad that he’d gotten Tessa’s approval to give the gift he brought for Jo or he’d be even more nervous. 

“Did someone say presents?” He asks as he pops up with exaggerated excitement. 

Jo rolls her eyes at him but he sees her smile. 

Once they’ve gathered all the gifts, she insists he opens hers first since “It’s kinda silly ‘cause I made it myself but it’s still true.”

When he pulls the wrapping off the heavy rectangle he doesn’t have to fake his smile one bit. Jo has made him a painted clay plaque with the words “World’s Best Writer” carefully painted in black. There are tiny hockey sticks and pucks dotting the edges, and what he’s pretty sure is an old fashioned typewriter at the bottom, though it’s a little smudged. 

“You made this for me, Kiddo?” he asks doing his best not to tear up. 

“Yeah,” she says, a little sheepish. 

“It’s wonderful! You did such an amazing job on the edges and the words are so smooth. I appreciate it so much, JoJo. Thank you!”

“You’re welcome!” Jo chirps as she bounces in her seat. 

She also made Tessa a pencil case that she painted with red, pink, and purple flowers. While still obviously painted by a child, there’s a sense of design to it that seems more sophisticated and Scott’s pretty sure he still couldn’t paint much better now in his thirties than she has at seven. Tessa gushes over the gift and Scott can tell she really does adore it and is already making plans to use it. 

They watch as Jo opens her pile of gifts, a new blazer, this time in red with white piping for trim, two new board games, a chemistry set, and two new books in a series she’s been loving. And then it’s time for her to open his gift for her and he gets nervous all over again. 

It doesn’t help that Jo doesn’t say anything when she pulls out the child-size hockey jersey with Agosta’s name on the back. It’s the same style as the jerseys the Canadian National team wore at the Sochi games. 

“Thank you--” she starts when she notices the autograph. Her head pops up as she stares at him, her mouth open and eyes wide as the moon. “Did she...did you--”

“Yeah, Bug,” Tessa confirms. “Scott was able to get Meghan signed it for you. She pinned a note to it, too. Read what she wrote?”

Jo looks over at Scott and then back down at the Jersey and then over back to her mom. Her chin is quivering a little and Scott wants to hug her in hopes she’ll fee a little less overwhelmed. 

“C’mere Joanna,” Tessa gently coaxes as she holds her hand out to her daughter. “Show me what it says!”

Joanna scoots over on her knees and then crawls up onto the couch between her mom and Scott and holds the attached note so they can all look at the inscription. 

_JJ,_

_I hear you’re gonna be faster than me someday. Watching video of you, I believe it. Keep working hard and doing your best and you’ll be flying with the National Team in no time. _

_All the best,  
MA_

“You showed her video? Of me?”

“Is that okay?”

Jo just nods and looks back down at the paper in her hands. “Did she really think I was good?”

“She said you were scrappy just like she was at your age.”

Still a little speechless at the gift, Jo puts the note on the coffee table and then tucks herself in to Scott’s side. “Thank you!”

“You’re so, so welcome, Kiddo,” he tells her as he hugs her to his side. “I’m glad you like it.”

As tempting as it is to give into the comfortable warmth of this home that he’s becoming more and more fond of, Scott chooses to head home as planned. He’s thrilled that he’s been invited into their intimate celebration, but he decides that he’ll give them the rest of the night to spend just the two of them. 

It’s hard to say goodnight and leave, but he does so with a calm certainty that next Christmas he won’t be leaving.


	2. Chapter 2

The only reason he knows that Tessa is indeed a little nervous to accompany him to his family’s Christmas celebration is because she’s holding his hand in a death grip. Her face has a pleasant, engaged smile on it, her shoulders are relaxed and open, and her voice is even and light as she greets each of his siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles, and his parents with her usual warmth. But he’s pretty damn sure she’s trying to break his hand. 

He spares a thought for how remarkable it is that she can isolate her tension so specifically into the one gesture, but gently rubs his thumb over the back of her knuckles in an attempt to soothe her. While most of the family members she’s met but doesn’t know well get a handshake with her free hand, Charlie and Nicole engulf her in huge hugs, and Skitch and his siblings give her high fives. 

Skitch is visibly bummed that JJ couldn’t make the gathering, but is soon distracted by Danny’s kids so Scott doesn’t feel too bad about confusing his nephew. 

“You doing okay?” he murmurs in Tessa’s ears as they duck into the kitchen to grab their refreshments. 

“Your family is lovely,” she says with her eyes wide as the prairies and voice pitched just high enough for him to know that she may find his family lovely, but she also finds them overwhelming. 

He squeezes her to his side and kisses her just next to the braid that circles her head like a crown and whispers, “They’re a menace and there are fifty thousand of us, but they like you, I promise.” At least the ones that matter. Scott gave up putting too much stock in trying to please _all_ of his family members long ago, even if he loves them dearly. 

Tess turns and kisses him on the jaw and then gathers her snacks and her bottle of hard cider and leads him back into the fray. They find a spot to sit at one of the many tables set up in the living room and dining room. Danny and his Tessa are there, along with Alma and Joe and Scott’s cousin Sheri. Danny has Sheri’s baby in hand and is making crazy faces at her as all the adults laugh at her dead serious gaze that doesn’t change a bit in the face of his antics. 

“You’re gonna have to watch out for this one in a few years, Sher,” Danny says without breaking eye contact with the baby. “The stoic ones are the biggest trouble makers.” 

“Right?” Sheri agrees. “Look at Charlie. He got away with so much shit because he had the best poker face.”

Scott watches as Tessa and Alma exchange a look, with his mom giving a shrug that shows they were aware of the issue but couldn’t do much about it. Tessa winces in commiseration. Or maybe she winces because she’s trying to open her bottle of hard cider and having no joy. 

Scott holds out his hand for the bottle and asks, “Would you like help?” 

Tessa huffs out a laugh and hands it to him. “Please. It’s stuck and I hate the pokey parts.”

He makes quick work of the bottle cap and hands it back. At her teasing glare he shrugs and says, “It’s the callouses more than anything.”

“I do have delicate hands,” she agrees with a sigh. 

“But strong. Your death grip on me earlier is proof of that,” he says, voice low so the others can’t here. 

She lets that go and gets pulled into a conversation with Nicole and Alma about a school fundraiser that the middle school is holding. Here, at least, with this smaller group of people she mostly knows, she seems more at ease, more genuine in her interest. She has a firm grip on the bottle she’s slowly nursing and at times he can see her picking at the label in an uncharacteristic nervous gesture, but she doesn’t seem a bit overwhelmed anymore. 

Scott gets distracted when one of his uncles joins them and asks him a question about how he’s liking his work with the Knights now that he’s been doing it for awhile. He only tunes back in when his uncle then gets distracted by one of his grandkids calling for him and Tessa reaches for his hand and stiffens a little. 

“It _is_ hard to be away from her on holidays,” Tessa answers a question from Sheri, “But we all have changed how we approach Christmas. Jo knows Christmas isn’t just about December 25th for us, but is about whatever day we get to be with each other. We try to let her get a little time with both families if possible, though this year with Greg’s grandmother not doing well, so she won’t get to celebrate with my side of the family until next week. We’re just lucky that all of my family lives in the area so it’s a little easier to get together.”

“So will you be alone tomorrow then?” Alma asks, a little horrified. 

“Oh no,” Tessa assures her. “I’ll do brunch with my mom and sister and then we’ll all gather at my mom’s in the afternoon for our proper Christmas dinner,” Tessa smiles sadly before continuing, “We’ll just do it again with Joanna later.”

“It sounds like your family must love her a lot, then,” Alma says, not unkindly. “Though I imagine I’d be just as happy to have two Christmas dinners if it meant getting to see all my grandchildren every year.” 

“Ah, Ma,” Danny says with a good natured eye roll. “You’d think we hadn’t made the trip halfway across the country this year.” 

Danny’s family do every other Christmas holiday in Ontario and their mom tends to start lamenting about the next year before Christmas even arrives. 

“I do appreciate it, Dan,” Alma says with a teary smile. “I just wish...”

Tessa reaches across the table and squeezes Alma’s hand. “It’s hard,” she admits with such a fierce compassion infusing both syllables that none of the rest of those at the table dare contradict either woman, even in jest. 

Alma squeezes Tessa’s hand in thanks and Scott rubs her back, letting her know he’s there with her. If he’d missed this brief exchange Scott would have said that Tessa was barely affected at all by being away from her baby at the holidays. Up ‘til now he’s been buying her claim that the actual day doesn’t matter much, but here with these two moms bonding over a shared understanding of what it’s like to be away from your child on big days, he can see the cracks just under the surface. 

Both the existence of those cracks and how fiercely she’s able to cover them up makes him love her just that little bit more. That it’s his mom that’s able to show him some truth and give Tess a measure of commiseration in this chaos, is just a lovely bonus. He loves that his family has embraced Tessa and Joanna so enthusiastically. 

They’re pulled out of their more melancholy mood by Carol calling the adults together for a rousing White Elephant exchange. The kids have just finished theirs and are settled down in the basement watching The Grinch. 

Scott is thrilled to find that Tessa is ruthless as anything when one of the more enticing items is a huge box of specialty chocolates (that he figures must have been thrown into the mix by Nicole, who isn’t much of a fan of chocolate and gets a whole slew of it from her students at Christmas time every year). 

He chokes on air when he knowingly chooses the gift that Tessa brought and opens it to find a set of dinosaur taco holders and a water bottle that says “After This We’re Getting Tacos” written in pink. 

She gives him a wink but breezily tells the rest of the room, “Lame, I know, but I figured everyone likes tacos, right?” leaving the rest of his family none-the-wiser as to why he’s blushing up a storm. 

One of his cousins steals the gift from him, making half the room snort when she says, “I don’t know about everyone loving tacos, but I sure do,” with a slightly lascivious grin Scott knows is meant to put the part of the room not laughing ever so slightly on edge. 

“Gay?” Tessa asks Scott out of the corner of her mouth, smile still firmly on her lips. 

“Very.”

“Brave,” Tessa adds, reading the room correctly and showing she understands that this cousin is a bit of a trailblazer in that respect. At least in this family. 

“Her whole damn life,” he agrees. 

And then he steals Tessa’s chocolate with a wink. Since he’s the third person to obtain the gift, he gets to keep it. There are audible groans from his brothers and closest cousins as he sets the chocolate in between them and leans over to drop a peck against Tessa’s lips. 

“That was sneaky,” she tells him. 

“Would you believe I don’t even really like chocolate that much?”

“I may have heard that rumor.” She tells him with a head shake. Tessa leans in to kiss him again, quick and light, before getting up and grabbing the gift of the pile that’s closest to her. She cackles and shows the book to the rest of the room. It’s an adult coloring book titled “Maybe Swearing Will Help: A Coloring Book of Motivation, Puns, and Cursing”. 

“Looks like you made out this year,” Nicole tells her once the game wraps up. 

“Beginners luck. I’m sure next year I’ll end up with the halloween tea towels or an uninspired inspirational quote.” This year’s gem says: _Friendship is the gift you give yourself_ in a flowery setting fit for the mid-1990s. It makes shit for sense, really. 

“Next year?” Nicole asks her with a sly smile. 

Tessa squeezes Scott’s hand and smiles at her friend. “Yeah. I think so.”

*

She kisses him on the jaw and squeezes her eyes shut in an attempt to fortify herself for getting out of the bed when it’s so warm with him under the covers and so cold outside. She snuggles into his chest and decides that there’s still enough time yet to wake up slowly (as long as she doesn’t fall back to sleep to the sound of his heartbeat under her ear). Still, she always has homemade cinnamon rolls and coffee with her mom and sister on Christmas morning, whether Jo is with her or not, and Scott didn’t even blink when she told him she’d have to leave earlier than she’d like this morning. 

Tessa hasn’t felt this conflicted in years. She loves the time with two of her favorite women, but fuck if she doesn’t want burrow in and snuggle with this man in this bed that smells so much like him and never leave his warmth. 

“Merry Christmas, Tess,” he rumbles under her ear. 

“Merry Christmas.”

He wraps his arms more tightly around her and they stay there in their warm bubble for a few more minutes. “What time did you say you need to be there?” he asks after a good ten minutes has passed with Tessa dozing in his embrace. 

“Ten.”

“Yikes. It’s 9:30 and you still have to get ready.”

“I find it adorable that you think there’s any getting ready involved in going to my mom’s for cinnamon rolls. It’s pjs and second day ponytails all the way.”

“I’m having a hard time picturing your mom being anything less than put together at all times.”

“Oh that’s fair,” she concedes. “She’ll be in total mom pajamas that she did not sleep in last night, her hair will be done, and she’ll have a fresh face of minimal make up,” Tessa says with a fond smile. “But she’s also been awake for four hours already. And at least Jordan will be in real loungewear with me.”

“I’m just glad it means I get a few minutes extra time with you,” he murmurs, voice still gravely. 

“Me, too,” she replies before pressing a kiss against his sternum. She smiles when he shudders in response and figures she’ll be forgiven if she’s just a little late.

“Look who decided to show up.” Tessa may be forgiven but Jordan isn’t about to let her tardiness go without a little razzing. “Did you get stung by a bee, cause that’s the only way to explain you being both twenty minutes late and your lips looking as swollen as Angelina Jolie’s on a good day.”

Tessa just rolls here eyes at her sister and lets her mom pull her into a warm hug. 

“Merry Christmas, Tess,” her mother says as she gives a soft kiss to her cheek. “Even if you are late.” Kate gives her a wink as she pulls back and leads her girls into the kitchen. 

The smell of her mother’s yeasted cinnamon rolls that are so full of sugar and butter that they only dare eat them once a year, overwhelms her and she’s brought back to being a little girl. Her mom would wake well before the rest of the house and the smell would rouse a tiny Tessa who would shake Jordan awake and they’d slip downstairs to have spiced apple cider and cinnamon rolls with their mom. The boys would sleep until the very last second, both when they lived there and when they’d return home for visits, and her dad would leave them all to their own devices, but even once Jordan, and then Tess were teenagers and no longer got quite so excited about Christmas morning, they’d still wake up earlier than the others and have these first moments of the day with their mom. 

“How’d your time at the Moirs go?” Kate asks as she pours heated milk into their coffees. She adds just enough cinnamon and honey to the milk to make the coffee interesting. Tess has tried to recreate it over the years, particularly when she’s needed some comfort, but it’s never turned out right so she’s come to look forward to how special it is every year. 

“It was fun,” Tessa answers, accepting the oversized mug of coffee from her mom. “They’re all so friendly and warm. And hilarious. The White Elephant was a riot.” Tessa can’t help but grin when she remembers the subtle gag she pulled on Scott with the theme of her gift.

“It’s good that you get along with them,” her mother says, diplomatically. “I was thinking we could arrange to have them over for dinner sometime in January since you two seem so...close.”

Jordan snorts as she takes her cup of coffee from their mom. “Close is one way to put it.”

“Well, I don’t think we could invite all of them over here...” Tessa tells Kate, ignoring Jordan’s comment. It’s a little horrifying to think of all those people in this house. The Moir-MacCormac family are kind and warm but also numerous and a little rowdy once they hit the third round of drinks. Especially some of the cousins Scott isn’t as close with. 

“No, dear. We can start with just Scott and his parents,” Kate tells her with that exaggerated patience that should be annoying but isn’t because it’s her mom. She uncovers the pan of rolls and starts to serve them each their own. Tessa can see the strings of sticky filling clinging to the offset spatula her mom is using. Fuck, they’re heavenly. 

“I’m sure they’d love to,” Tessa says. 

“You aren’t even going to pretend like your parents meeting for dinner two months into dating isn’t a little ridiculous?” Jordan asks as she cocks her head and peers at Tessa. Her words may be a little harsh, but her tone holds only genuine curiosity. 

“We’re grown adults, J. There’s no use pretending that we’re not running full speed ahead when we are, indeed, running full speed ahead. Plus, it’ll be three whole months by then,” Tessa adds, as if one extra month is normally enough for that kind of step. 

“He seems like a nice man,” Kate interjects, all but ignoring Tessa and Jordan’s conversation as they all carry their plates and coffees to the breakfast nook. “I imagine he was raised by nice people as well. At the very least I’m looking forward to getting to know him better this evening.”

“Scott is a good man. I’m looking forward to you all getting to know him better,” Tessa says, unable to keep the admiration from her voice. “And since we will all get to spend some time together this evening, wouldn’t you much rather bug J about her guy? How’s Halifax treating him this Christmas?” Tessa asks her sister as she takes a drink of her coffee and tries not to smile with glee when her sister glares at her. Jordan hates talking about her boyfriend with their mom. Kate is generally even tempered and graciously mannered, but like most parents, knows exactly how to get under Jordan’s skin with a well placed question or two. 

“Maybe let’s not get started down that path and see if Jo is available to FaceTime instead,” Jordan proposes. “Or we could finally get answers about Mom’s friend...”

“I’ll go get my laptop so we can FaceTime her on the bigger screen,” Kate jumps in as she quickly rises from her chair to retrieve her computer. 

“How did both of you weasel out of that?” Tessa grumbles. 

“Because we didn’t invite our significant others over for Christmas...on our first Christmases with them.”

Fair. 

“Besides,” Jordan points out as she shoves at Tessa’s leg with her foot, “You like your guy enough to want to subject yourselves to family. That’s still mind boggling.”

“I love him enough to do that, yeah,” Tessa agrees. 

“Love?”

“Yep.”

“Well shit,” Jordan replies as she takes a long drink of her coffee. 

“What are you ‘well shitting’ Jordan?” Kate asks as she returns with her open laptop in her hands. 

“Sam’s in love,” she replies without looking away from Tessa. 

“She is,” Kate agrees. She drops a kiss to Tessa’s hair and sets the laptop down before shooting off a text to both Jo and Greg asking if it’s an okay time. Jo responds by initiating the FaceTime call and then there’s no time for talk of significant others or romantic love. 

*

Tessa answers the door when Scott knocks since he’d given her the heads up through text when he pulled up. His hands are full but she takes the gifts out of his hands, sets them on the entryway table, and then burrows into his arms. 

“How does breathing you in already settle me so much?” She asks. He excites her, too, in ways that she’s still discovering, but mostly she feels comfort and peace in his arms. 

He chuckles in response and kisses her temple and then pulls back a bit so he can kiss her properly. 

“Sam! Don’t hog the new guy,” Casey calls out from the family room where everyone’s gathered. 

“That’s Casey,” Tessa supplies. Scott has only met Kate at this point, and that was through a chance encounter at one of Jo’s games. This will be his first introduction to the rest of her family. 

“Lead on, sugarplum,” he says, sweeping his arm toward the doorway and the voices inside. 

“Ew. No.” That is not a nickname he should ever use again.

“Yeah,” Scott agrees, wrinkling his nose. “As soon as it was halfway out I knew it was a miss.”

“At least we’re on the same page,” Tess tells him as she stands on tip toes and kisses his jaw. She squeezes his hand as they cross the threshold into the living room as Kate turns away from her conversation with Tessa’s niece and smiles. 

“Scott.” She sounds as welcoming and motherly as always. “It’s lovely that you could come. Please make yourself at home.” 

“This is Casey, Jordan, and Kevin,” Tessa says as she points to each of her siblings and they all wave back. She introduces her brothers’ wives and her niece as well and then asks, “Drink?”

Scott looks around the room, obviously checking to see if others have drinks and then says, “Wine would be fine,” seemingly following the choice of the rest of her family. 

“I’ll get that for you,” Kate offers. “You two sit.”

Tessa leads Scott over to a love seat and they settle down side by side. She doesn’t release his hand as he asks, “I understand I have one of you two to thank for getting to meet Jo and Tess?”   
It’s directed at her brothers and Tessa smiles at his opening. 

She rests her head against his shoulder and points to Kevin with her free hand, “Kevin gave Jo the book.”

“Then I guess you’re the one whose tab I’ll be picking up for the next decade,” Scott says to her brother. 

“None of us could have predicted her obsession with that book, or with hockey, even, but I’ll take it,” Kevin replies, affably. 

“She wasn’t obsessed with hockey before the book?” Scott asks sounding surprised. 

“I don’t even know if she’d watched a game before that book,” Tessa answers honestly. Neither of her brothers were still playing hockey when Jo was born, plus they both were more into baseball and football during their school careers, and neither Tessa or Greg were into the sport. Jo’s enthusiasm and talent were a complete surprise. 

“It’s shitty, but I forgot about Jo’s birthday until two hours before the party and a coworker recommended it because her daughter liked learning about Olympic stories. The kid shocked all of us with how quickly she took to it.”

“Then maybe it’s your coworker who should be getting drinks for life,” Scott jokes. 

The room falls into a slightly awkward silence then, though it’s actually a common occurrence for Tessa and her siblings to not talk when they have nothing to say and now it’s just the presence of someone new that shifts the dynamic just enough to change the tension. Tessa stays quiet, hoping that one of her siblings, all three adults with social skills of their own, will break the silence, and is about to give up and ask Meg a question about her niece when Scott throws out, “My understanding is that all of you played sports growing up? That must have been hectic.”

The question is all it takes to set all three of her siblings to talking about their different experiences as multi-sport athletes. They talk over each other, and rib each other about who is the best athlete in the family (it’s Jordan, even if she didn’t play anything but intramural soccer once she got into college. She could have played college ball in the states, but chose to focus on her career. Now she dances and plays beer league and teaches fitness classes, all while holding down a very good job in marketing. Meanwhile the rest of them struggle to to prioritize some time on the treadmill or at a yoga class on good days. 

“What classes do you teach,” Scott asks Jordan, obviously a little amazed by how many hats she still wears as an adult. 

“I teach a barre class, and am debating whether I should get the training for Pilates,” she replies. 

“Barre is a mix of dance and…?” Scott trails off unsure what the rest of the sentence should be. 

“It’s a mix of dance and other body weight exercise,” Jordan says, and then looks over at Tessa, “It’s just enough ballet to lure dancers in and then bam, we hit them with shit that works muscles they didn’t remember they had.”

“It sucks,” Tessa throws out. 

“It’s not my fault you’ve gone soft on me, Sam,” Jordan replies. “I thought I was going to have to call the paramedics for you that last time.”

“Hey! I was sick,” Tessa argues. She’s mostly gotten over not being the best at everything she does, which a compulsion she had since she was a child, but she does not like getting called out by her siblings anymore today than she did when she was little. 

“Sure you were,” Jordan replies with a skeptical shrug. 

Tessa lobs a throw pillow at her sister without thinking about it and then grimaces at her reaction. 

“You kids are still the same, even as grown adults,” Kate says from across the room, where she’s still working on a puzzle with her granddaughter. “You get these four in a room, but especially the girls, and if a skirmish doesn’t break out every half-hour or so, it’s a miracle.”

“It’s the same for my brothers and me with our cousins, Ma’am,” he tells Kate, “Get us together for long enough and with no major distractions and we turn into pre-teens all over again.”

“You can call me Kate,” she replies automatically. “But I appreciate the reassurance that it’s not just my children.”

The conversation continues once it’s time for dinner, which is a more formal affair than at the Moirs, but only because they can all fit around one table. Tessa’s niece is obviously tired from her early morning and nearly falls asleep in her plate, opting to crawl into Casey’s lap as they all get dessert -- mint brownies with ice cream -- even though she’s a year older than Jo, and has four inches on her. The sight makes Tessa miss Jo so much, and not just because she feels bad that it means her niece is the only kid again. She misses the way Jo can bring out the mischief in her cousin and the way she can get the room laughing with one of her unpracticed zingers (and some of her practiced ones, too). Just as the sadness of missing her daughter in this moment almost overwhelms her, she feels Scott’s hand grab hers and is grounded by the way the rough callous on his thumb plays across the delicate skin on the back of her hand. She turns into him and drops a kiss to his shoulder in thanks and gives him a small smile when he furrows his brow in question. 

“I’m okay,” she whispers. 

“I know,” he answers. There are so many layers in those words that she’d love to tease out, but Kate starts clearing plates and Scott jumps up to help, only stopping to squeeze Tessa’s shoulder in assurance, before he gives her mom a playful glare when Kate protests against his help. 

“You made a lovely meal, Kate,” he argues. “It’s my pleasure to help with the clean up.”

Everyone else stands to help then, though they’re distracted by exchanging hugs and goodnights with the youngest Virtue present before Casey gives her a piggyback ride up to Tessa’s old room so she can sleep while the adults continue to spend time together. 

Tessa’s always been fascinated by how well her niece can sleep anywhere, any time. Jo is a decent sleeper when they’re in their normal routine, at both Tessa’s house and at Greg’s, but she gets massive cases of FOMO during the holidays and always goes and goes, insisting on being underfoot (sometimes literally) until she crashes out on the couch, or the floor, or under the table where the adults play card games. She loves that aspect of Joanna as much as she loves everything else about her, but she occasionally envies the ease with which Casey can just carry his daughter up the stairs, tuck her in, kiss her goodnight, and be assured that she’ll be asleep and happy in bed before he makes it out the door. 

They play three rounds of Tripoley with so much razzing that Kate heads up to bed after the first round. Tessa hasn’t laughed this hard for this long in awhile and she wishes, like always, that she got to see her siblings all together more frequently than every Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

While Scott comes from behind to win the second round, Jordan manages the first and third rounds and wins the night, a feat she gloats about as Scott and Tessa gather their jackets and say their goodnights. Everyone else will spend the night here at Kate’s but Tessa’s house is only minutes away and she didn’t think it was fair to ask Scott to spend the night at her mom’s house when her own bed is so close. 

Tessa dozes off on the short drive over to her house and is woken with Scott’s cold hand brushing her hair off her face. 

“Just one more move, Virtch, and you can sleep in your bed instead of my car.”

“I was supposed to seduce you tonight. There was going to be more kitchen dancing and hot sex,” she tells him, a little disappointed that she’s so exhausted that her sneaky plans are likely not going to happen. 

“There will be plenty of time for that later,” he chuckles. “I think it’s bed time for you, Boo-boo.”

Tessa doesn’t even open her eyes when she wrinkles her nose at that nickname. 

Scott just laughs. “Yeah, that one sucks, too.”

“It sounds like I’m five,” Tessa adds, as she slowly climbs out of the car and takes his hand as they huddle together against the wind and ascend the steps to her door. 

She quickly unlocks the deadbolt and lets them inside, perking up a little as they both take off their outerwear and shoes. He takes her hand and leads her into the kitchen, pouring them both small glasses of water and handing her the huge bottle of her night time vitamins and watching her as she downs the large pill and drinks the water down. 

“What?” she asks when she notices him staring at her. 

“Nothin,” he replies. “You’re just so fucking gorgeous. Sometimes I can’t help but stare.”

“Oh yes. I’m super gorgeous while choking down a horse pill.”

“Yep,” he agrees, ignoring her sarcasm. The way he’s looking at her, though, with so much admiration and just a tinge of awe, sets her face aflame and has her blood zinging through her veins. 

Exhaustion lifted, at least momentarily, Tessa pulls out her phone and pulls up a playlist and watches as Scott’s face lights up when Ella Fitzgerald starts crooning through the room. He immediately takes her hand and pulls her close. The song is slow and sweet and it’s late enough that they end up swaying more than dancing, but Tessa hopes that she gets to slow dance with this man, on dance floors or in kitchens, for the rest of her days. 

He sings to her as they sway, and before long she’s peppering his jaw with kisses that turn into nips and his hands sink lower and lower down her back and by the end of the second song Tessa takes his hand and leads him upstairs to her bed. 

*

Tessa’s phone beeps at 9:15am on Boxing Day and she’s so warm and cozy, snuggled up naked next to an equally naked Scott, that she is loathe to reach her arm out from under the covers to grab her phone. 

Scott must hear both her phone and her groan of protest at the noise because he reaches over her, eyes still closed, and grabs her phone from the nightstand, handing it to her before tucking his head back into the crook of her neck. Tessa opens only her left eye to see what message waits for her and smiles when she sees that it’s Greg saying they’re an hour out. She’s missed her kid something fierce this Christmas and is not sad that their separation is almost over. 

“Jo?” Scott asks, voice so soaked in sleep that Tessa has to swallow against how insanely hot he sounds. 

“Mhmm,” she hums against his throat. 

“What time?”

“We’ve got about 45-minutes,” Tessa answers, as she drags her nails lightly down his back. 

“I take it you’re done sleeping,” he asks, finally opening his eyes and looking down at her. 

“If you have a better offer.”

“Oh, darlin’,” he says, and for once she doesn’t grimace at a term of endearment, which has him raising his brows in approval. “Good to know,” he says before adding, “I think I have a better offer, yes.”

He kisses his way down her sternum and nips at her belly button and then gets Tessa off twice with just his mouth before she even deigns to open both eyes. 

She tries to pull him up so she can kiss him but he shocks her by hoisting her up into his arms and carrying her to the bathroom. They brush their teeth and drink glasses of water all while Scott’s dick is still standing at attention and only once they’re in the shower standing under the heavenly stream of the hot water does he let her take him in hand and bring him to his own climax. 

He drops kisses against her skin as he helps her apply moisturizer and then their time is up and the can hear Jo calling out from the front door so they pull on their pajamas and meet her downstairs. 

Tessa pulls Jo into her arms and hugs her tight enough for her daughter to protest. 

“Mom! It’s only been two days!”

“Let your mom hug you, Joanna,” Greg admonishes as he brings in Jo’s bag and another bag that must contain her new gifts, though his voice is fond. “It’s no fun being away from you at Christmas.” 

Marianne is standing in the doorway with another box, which Scott reaches out to take from her. 

“I missed you, too,” Jo admits now as she squeezes Tessa back. 

“Goodmorning, Scott,” Greg says with a neutral tone. “Merry Christmas.” 

“Merry Christmas,” Scott replies. 

Jo’s head pops up from Tessa’s shoulders. “You’re here?!” Tessa swallows against the anxiety that fills her as she tries to read if Jo’s excitement is good or bad. 

“Yep,” Scott answers. “That okay?”

“Yes!” Jo shouts. “Do you live here now?”

“Joanna,” Tessa says, mostly to get her daughter’s attention than for any attempt at censure. 

“Not yet, Kiddo,” Scott replies. Tessa looks up at him then and can see the _Soon_ plain as day in his eyes. “Not yet.”

“Okay,” Jo answers with a nod, taking that answer in stride, before hugging her mom one more time and then turning to grab her bag of gifts from her dad. “I have to show you guys my new stuff!”

Tessa will never, ever get over how her daughter’s enthusiasm and joy can light up a room. As she looks over at Scott where he’s now working on starting a pot of coffee while still obviously paying attention to Jo as she shows off her new things, her heart can’t help but echo back: 

_Soon_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks, as usual, to C for all the stuff. 
> 
> If you enjoyed this lemme know, yeah? Thanks, as always, for all your comments. They are such a joy.

**Author's Note:**

> Now to write the second chapter. ;) 
> 
> Thank you all for all the comments y'all have gifted me with this last year. Know they mean the world to me.


End file.
